EMMA DEBANY EMMA DEBANY EMMA DEBANY

EMMA DEBANY

The award-winning* Emma Debany grew up in Ridgefield, CT, and spent her formative years in the parking lot of a 24-hour Dunkin Donuts, per the traditional New England adolescent rites of passage.

Her directorial debut in the commercial world was an ad for Popsockets, which remains one of her favorite spots that she’s directed. Honorable mentions in that arena also include Jack in the Box, Totinos, Conoco, Gopuff, BetMGM, and Next Insurance. She went from a street prank PA on The Eric Andre Show (yes that’s a real position), to director’s assistant within two seasons, and worked under Kitao Sakurai. 

Narratively, Emma has directed a weird short called “Couch,” for Adult Swim. Her senior thesis from SCAD was a short entitled “Steve’s Kinkoes” which Natasha Lyonne later named one of her favorite short films (which is more than many can say of their student work - thanks, ‘Tash!)

She has now graduated to AdWeek editor’s picks of the week for her surreal, deliciously uncomfortable Totino’s work, featuring a pizza roll troll haunting the freezer aisle.

Darkly funny and irreverent, Emma’s sharp point of view reframes what’s normal and what’s strange. She mines empathy and understanding out of profound concepts, breaking them down into smaller, simpler, visually compelling moments. Ultimately, life is serious, so Emma believes filmmaking should be fun - and she runs her sets accordingly, cutting through the white noise of advertising and making stuff people actually enjoy seeing.

*she won second place in an ice cream eating contest. She’s proud of herself, we’re proud of her, and you should be, too.